SriLankan Airlines Limited (Sinhala:ශ්‍රී ලංකා ගුවන් සේවය, Tamil: ஸ்ரீலங்கன் ஏர்லைன்ஸ்) (formerly known as Air Lanka) is the flag carrier of Sri Lanka. It operates to destinations in Asia and Europe from its base and hub at Bandaranaike International Airport in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo. The airline's head office is in the Airline Centre, on the grounds of Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake, Sri Lanka.^[9]

	History
	Air Lanka's initial fleet consisted of two Boeing 707,        leased from Singapore Airlines. One Boeing 737 was leased from Maersk Air and Maintained by Air Tara. On 24 April 1980 the lease ended Air Lanka received replacement Boeing 737 leased from Royal Brunei. Air Lanka Lockheed TriStar 500 at Frankfurt Airport in 1992 On 1 November 1980 Air Lanka commenced wide body operations with a lease Lockheed L1011-1 Tristar from Air Canada. On 15 April 1982 Air Lanka received its own L1011 purchased from All Nippon Airways. With introduction of Tristar aircraft B707s were phased out and sold. Then another L1011 was leased from Air Canada and another L1011 was purchased from All Nippon. On 1 May 1982 HAECO took over the maintenance of two Air Lanka owned Tristars, while Air Canada maintained two leased Tristars. On 28 March 1980 Air Lanka signed to purchase two brand new Lockheed L1011-500 Tristars, most advanced wide body aircraft in the world at that time. First 500 was accepted on 26 August 1982, at Palmdale, California. It was flown to Amsterdam as UL flight 566P. On 28 August 4R-ULA "City Of Colombo' left for its inaugural flight from Amsterdam to Colombo as UL566. It reached Colombo on 29 August. This was followed by second -500 4R-ULB, "City Of Jayawardanapura". On June 8, 1985 the airline received its first Boeing 747-200B "King Vijaya" and the second joined later. The aircraft were used on flights to Europe and a few flights to Southeast Asia. A Boeing 707-312B at Gatwick Airport (1981) Airlanka's first Airbus A320 4R-ABA. This aircraft was written-off in 2001 Air Lanka, which was state-owned, was part-privatized to the Dubai-based Emirates Group in 1998, when Emirates and the Sri Lankan Government signed an agreement for a ten-year strategic partnership. This agreement included exclusive rights for all aircraft ground handling and airline catering at Colombo-Bandaranaike airport for a ten-year period. Emirates bought a 40% stake worth US$70 million (which it later increased to 43.6%) in Air Lanka, and sought to refurbish the airline's image and fleet. The Government    retained a majority stake in the airline, but gave full control to Emirates for investment and management decisions. In 1998, the Air Lanka rebranded to SriLankan Airlines.[10] SriLankan acquired 6 Airbus A330-200s to complement its fleet of Airbus A340-300 and A320-200 aircraft. The A330-200 aircraft joined the airline between October 1999 and July 2000. The company’s fourth A340-300 arrived at Colombo painted in the airline’s new corporate livery. SriLankan upgraded its existing A340 fleet into a two-class configuration (business and economy class) whilst overhauling the interior to reflect the new corporate image. SriLankan Airlines has been affected by environmental problems and acts of terrorism. This has included the SARS outbreak, 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, the Sri Lankan Civil War, and a Bandaranaike Airport attack, which destroyed 4 aircraft and damaged 2, writing off half of the airline's fleet. SriLankan took the decision to position Colombo as a hub for flights to Asia. This is evident in its expansion into regional markets, notably India and the Middle East. Whilst continuing expansion in the region, SriLankan commenced flying to Jeddah, its third destination in Saudi Arabia, after Riyadh and Dammam. Jeddah was the airline's 51st destination in 28 countries, thus increasing the number of destinations in the Middle East to nine.
	SriLankan Airlines aims to boost its fleet to 30 aircraft over the next four years, and is currently in talks with both Airbus and Boeing regarding a deal that may consist of up to nine long-haul aircraft.[27] It has also leased four additional Airbus A320 aircraft.[28] SriLankan's CEO Kapila Chandrasena stated that the carrier wants to add either Airbus A330-300 or Boeing 777 aircraft to its fleet to replace its Airbus A340-300s, with deliveries beginning in 2013–2014.[29] Selected aircraft have also been refurbished to incorporate flat bed seating in business class and an enhanced Inflight Entertainment system. In April 2013, it was announced that SriLankan Airlines had won government approval to acquire four Airbus A350-900 and six A330-300 aircraft, with deliveries starting from October 2014.[30] A further three Airbus A350-900s will be leased, with deliveries of these aircraft starting in 2017.[30]